In defending his selection of an anti-gay rights activist to become the Cincinnati NAACP’s legal advisor, Christopher Smitherman scolded critics for daring to invoke the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Specifically, the state law, which Gov. John Kasich signed on April 30 and went into effect on July 30, excludes any
organization that receives payments from a health care payer, such as an
insurance company, from being designated as a “navigator.”

The designation is necessary for Cincinnati Children’s
Hospital to receive the federal grant, which is part of national
outreach efforts to enroll as many Americans, especially young adults,
into Obamacare’s online marketplaces when they open for enrollment on Oct. 1.

State legislators passed the restrictions to clarify regulations on navigators that avoid potential abuses and conflicts of interest.

But Obamacare’s supporters claim the state law is part of a
nationwide effort from state and federal Republicans to make Obamacare
more difficult to implement.

The federal government intends to sign up 7 million people
into Obamacare’s online marketplaces, but 2.7 million have to be young adults to keep costs low. Otherwise, older,
less healthy Americans will fill up the marketplaces, exhaust health
services and drive up costs.

Supporters of Obamacare acknowledge that signing up so
many young adults will be difficult, so they’ve taken to national and
state-by-state education campaigns that tell young adults about the
benefits and cost savings made available through the president’s
signature health care law. These campaigns are being headed by various
organizations that have been dubbed “navigators.”

But opponents, particularly Republicans, are preventing some of the efforts by investigating navigators and passing
legislation in state governments that limits what navigators can do and
who can be classified as a navigator.

Most recently, Republicans in the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee sent a letter to groups participating in the navigator program with a series of accusations and questions.

“This is a blatant and shameful attempt to intimidate
groups who will be working to inform Americans about their new health
insurance options and help them enroll in coverage, just like Medicare
counselors have been doing for years,” Erin Shields Britt, spokesperson
for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, told The Hill.

For the uninsured, not knowing about the online marketplaces could mean losing
out on opportunities to obtain health insurance at lower costs. Recent reports have found that Obamacare’s online
marketplaces and tax subsidies will lower costs for Ohioans in the
individual health care market.

An Aug. 29 study from the RAND Corporation,
a reputable think tank, found health care premiums will rise to an
average of $5,312 under Obamacare in 2016. Without the law, premiums
would reach an average of $3,973 that year. But when Obamacare’s tax
credits are plugged in, the average Ohioan will only pay a premium of
$3,131 — $842 less than he or she would pay without the law.

Avik Roy, a conservative health care economist and prominent critic of Obamacare, found even better results for Ohio. His model found premiums will drop by 30 percent in Ohio,
although they’ll rise by 24 percent on average for 13 states, including Ohio, and the District of Columbia as a whole.
Unlike RAND, Roy’s calculations don’t take subsidies into account, so
the final cost for the average Ohioan is likely much lower.

The numbers only apply to Ohioans in the individual
health insurance market. Under Obamacare, individuals will be able to
enroll for health insurance through an online marketplace. The majority of Americans who get health insurance through their
employers or public programs fall under different rules and regulations.

It’s unclear how much Republican opposition will
ultimately play into the numbers. But for Cincinnati Children’s
Hospital, it means $124,419 less to help its neediest, less
knowledgeable patients.

The Requiem Project filed a complaint today asking a judge
to force the Emery Theater’s operating entity to enter into a long-term
lease with the organization.

On Monday, Judge Carl Stitch is scheduled to rule on a motion to
grant a temporary restraining order to stop the Requiem from being
evicted from the building. The complaint states that the Emery Center
Corporation asked Requiem to vacate the theater by Aug. 3 and has
requested that Requiem return its keys to the building. It asks the court to declare that the Requiem is entitled to a long-term lease of the property based on a 2010 agreement that the two sides would work toward a long-term lease.

The Requiem Project is a nonprofit organization that
formed in 2008 to redevelop the Emery Theater, a 1,600-seat,
acoustically pure concert space on Walnut Street in Over-the-Rhine. The
theater entrance is on the west side of the building at the corner of
Walnut and Central Parkway, which includes Coffee Emporium and about 60
apartments.

Requiem founders Tina Manchise and Tara Gordon have programmed events at the venue during the past few years under
temporary occupancy permits. The theater is not eligible for a permanent certificate of occupancy because it needs significant renovations — it currently doesn't have working plumbing or heat. Still, organizers have produced individual events, sometimes bringing in portable toilets and taking other measures to make the space functional. In April, the
Emery hosted the Contemporary Dance Theater’s 40th anniversary
celebration. It also hosted three nights of live music during last fall’s MidPoint Music Festival, which is owned and operated by CityBeat. MidPoint organizers were unable to secure the venue for this year’s event.

The theater is operated by the Emery Center Corporation
(ECC), a nonprofit organization that subleases the theater from the
Emery Center Apartments Limited Partnership (ECALP), a for-profit
corporation that holds a long-term lease to the building from UC. All
three parties — UC, ECC and ECALP — are named as defendants in the
complaint.

University of Cincinnati spokesperson Greg Hand declined
to comment, only stating that UC doesn’t have a relationship with the
Requiem Project because Requiem works directly with the ECC, which subleases part of the building from ECALP.

The Requiem Project alleges that the intent all along was
for ECC to lease the space to Requiem long-term, not just for Requiem to program
events under a management agreement. According to the complaint, the
Requiem and ECC in 2010 signed a Letter of Intent, which stated that the
ECC would enter into a lease agreement with the Requiem “on
substantially similar terms” as the ECC’s current deal with ECALP, the
for-profit entity that oversees the rest of the building. That lease,
signed in 1999, is for 40-years and renewable for another 40 years after
that.

The two sides entered into a management agreement while
negotiating the long-term lease, but the lease was never agreed upon.
The most recent yearlong management agreement is set to expire Aug. 3.

ECC informed Requiem Jan. 16 that it would not renew the current agreement “for no cause,” according to the complaint.

The complaint alleges that the theater cannot obtain a
permanent certificate of occupancy because ECALP removed the heat and
water systems while renovating part of the building into apartments,
which were developed to raise revenue for the eventual renovation of the
theater. The renovations of the apartments left the theater without
running water, heat, bathrooms or fire escapes, according to the
complaint, which notes that ECC let the theater sit empty between the
time it took over its management in 1999 and when the Requiem Project came
along in 2008. A permanent certificate of occupancy would allow regular programming in the theater, but the venue needs considerable
renovations to qualify.

"UC refuses to even meet with the parties to outline its demands," the complaint states. "ECC and ECALP have stopped replying to Requiem's reasonable proposals."

CityBeat has held off on posting the names of some people we've heard have been laid off from The Cincinnati Enquirer pending better verification, but we can now confirm two more departures.

Assistant Business Editor Randy Tucker and Obituaries Writer Rebecca Goodman have left the newspaper's staff. Tucker was a victim of the layoffs; it's unclear whether Goodman was laid off or chose to leave since she recently graduated from law school.

Two prominent Democratic congress members say a $3 million settlement between Cintas Corp. and federal workplace safety regulators is insufficient because it downgrades the severity of the company’s violations and gives it two years to install new safety equipment.

President touts support for small businesses and LGBT rights

In the first town hall-style event of the 2012 campaign,
President Barack Obama fielded questions on Monday about rights for the
LGBT community, what he would do for small business during a second term
and which was his favorite Girl Scout cookie (Thin Mints).

Obama — the first Democrat to carry Hamilton County since
Lyndon Baines Johnson — held a packed town hall meeting at Music Hall.
Cincinnati Fire Department Capt. Joseph E. Wolf estimated the crowd at
1,200 people in the ballroom with an additional 421 hosted outside.

The most recent Quinnipiac University poll from June 27
showed that 47 percent of Ohio voters favored the president, while 38
percent were behind his presumed Republican challenger Mitt Romney. The
poll’s margin of error was plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.

Mayor Mark Mallory fired up the crowd before the president
spoke, saying Hamilton County is the most important county in Ohio, and
Cincinnati the most important city in the county.

“The folks in this room are the most important folks in
terms of the re-election of President Barack Obama in the United States
of America,” Mallory said.

Attending the town hall was former Cincinnati mayor and
daytime TV host Jerry Springer, who said he and about a dozen other
folks had a private meeting with the president earlier in the day.

"I think it would be bad for the country," Springer said of an America
that saw Obama lose the November election. He says the
Republican-controlled house would run away with our country without a
Democrat in the Oval Office to issue a veto.

Just an hour before the president spoke and seven blocks
away at Fountain Square, dozens of Romney supporters rallied, carrying
signs with slogans such as “Obama Bin Lyin’.”

Republican Mike Wilson, who is looking to unseat
Montgomery Democrat Rep. Connie Pillich in the Ohio House of
Representatives, was among the speakers at the Romney Rally.Pillich defeated Wilson in the 2010 election.

"Ohio seems destined to play a pivotal role. We're used to it," Wilson said.

Wilson criticized the Obama campaign for “playing politics” with Romney’s tenure at the head of investment firm Bain Capital.

The Obama campaign has claimed that Romney invested in businesses that outsourced American jobs.

“We're all interested with what Romney did with his money,
but we're not interested with what Obama is doing with our money,"
Wilson said.

He blamed over-regulation and taxation from the Obama administration for companies moving their operations overseas.

Gerry Molt, who attended the rally with his wife Roxanne,
claimed that Obama is at war with America and says the focus on Bain
Capital is “clearly a distraction.”

Roxanne Molt said she’s excited about the importance of Hamilton County in this year’s election.

“I think this is the premier election of our lifetime,”
she said. “I think Romney’s got a good plan. We need someone who
supports capitalism.”

The president did a little bit to support Cincinnati
capitalism, making a pit stop at Skyline Chili before the town hall,
where he ordered a 4-way and two cheese coneys.

The economy was a big focus of Obama’s speech, but also of questions he received afterward.

Tony White, who owns a barber shop/beauty salon, asked
what the president would do for small businesses with fewer than 10
employees.

In his response, the president touted the possible savings
for small businesses under the health care overhaul, saying they could
pool together and receive the same rates as larger businesses. As for
moving forward, Obama said he would continue to put pressure on banks to
lend to small businesses.

“We’ve actually been pushing the banks to say, ‘look,
taxpayers pulled your backside out of the fire, it’s now important for
you to step up and make sure that small businesses aren’t finding their
credit restricted, especially if they’ve been in business for a while,”
he said.

The president was also asked by a woman who only
identified herself as Anna what he would do to further help the LGBT
community. Anna’s son Adam is openly gay and is looking at attending
Miami University in Oxford.

Despite earlier teasing that he wouldn’t sing at the town
hall, Obama led the crown in singing “Happy Birthday” to Adam, who
turned 18 on Monday.

Obama again answered the question by touting his
accomplishments so far — ending the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that
forbid homosexuals from serving openly in the military and expanding
hospital visitationrights to same-sex partners — before going on to say that the federal Defense of Marriage Act needs to be repealed.

The Defense of Marriage Act defines marriage as between
one man and one woman. Obama is the first American president to openly
support gay marriage.

The theme the president to which continued to return was that America needs to return to being the land of opportunity.

“What really sets us apart has always been that we have
the greatest middle class and a basic idea that’s at the heart of this
country that says if you work hard then you can get ahead. If you’re
responsive, then you can live out your dreams. You’re not confined to
the circumstances of your birth.”

Conneaut councilman asks state to intervene at CCA facility

Private prison critics have been proven right once again. Smuggling incidents are on the rise around Lake Erie Correctional
Institution, which Ohio sold to the Corrections Corporation of America
(CCA) in 2011.

In a letter to Gov. John Kasich’s northeast Ohio liaison,
Conneaut Councilman Neil LaRusch claimed a rise in contraband smuggling has forced local police to increase security around the CCA facility.

Since the end of 2012, four have been arrested and charged
with smuggling. Another four were arrested Monday and police suspect
they were in Conneaut for a smuggling job. According to the Star Beacon, the four suspects arrested Monday were only caught due to the increased police presence outside the Lake Erie prison.

LaRusch said Conneaut and its police department are
already running tight budgets, and they can’t afford to continue padding
prison security. He then asked the state and governor to help out with
the situation.

The letter prompted a reaction from the American Civil
Liberties Union of Ohio (ACLU), which has staunchly opposed prison
privatization in the state. In a statement, Mike Brickner, director of
communications and public policy for the ACLU, said, “Unfortunately,
this is a predictable pattern with private prisons. Promises of lower
costs quickly morph into higher crime, increased burdens on local law
enforcement, and in the end, a higher bill for taxpayers.”

He added, “This is not an anomaly. It is a predictable
pattern. The private prison model is built on profit above all else.
These facilities will cut corners and shift responsibility to taxpayers
wherever necessary to maximize profits.”

The governor’s office and Ohio Department of
Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) could not be immediately reached
for comment. This story will be updated if a response becomes available.

Update (5:00 p.m.): Col. John Born, superintendent of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, responded to the councilman's letter. In his own letter, Born doesn't contradict that there's a rise in drug smuggling, but he gives the issue more context.

Born wrote criminal incidents at the Lake Erie prison have actually decreased. He acknowledges drug smuggling cases went up from four in 2011 to seven in 2012, but he says drug cases have gone down at the prison since 2010.

He also claims seven other state prisons have seen a greater rise in drug smuggling. Born frames the issue in a national context: “Unfortunately,
despite best efforts, the national problem of illegal drug usage and
drug trafficking continues to plague our nation.”

Regarding state assistance, Born wrote the Ohio State Highway Patrol does not have the authority to strengthen security in order to directly prevent drug smuggling: “It is important to point out the Ohio State Highway Patrol's legal authority and corresponding duties prior to the sale of the prison and after the sale remain largely unchanged. Ohio troopers did not have original jurisdiction on private property off institution grounds while under state operations nor do they today.”

He adds the Ohio State Highway Patrol has already deployed more cruisers at the prison, but he believes local law enforcement are still the best option for responding to incidents.

JoEllen Smith, spokesperson for ODRC, wrote in an email, “DRC will be in communication with the parties involved to ensure any remaining concerns are addressed.”

Video provides best break for budget hearings

Here at CityBeat, we cover a lot of budget hearings, and they can very easily wear us down with their partisan squabbles and monotonous focus on details that everyone will forget about in a week or so.

Right now, we're watching the Ohio Senate budget hearings, which have so far involved Democrats repeatedly bringing up amendments only to get them shot down by the Republican majority. Very repetitive, very boring.

Thankfully, the Internet has given us the chance to take what we like to call "cat breaks." This video — arguably the greatest thing in the entire Internet — is the latest example: